Friday, May 3, 2013

Temple
– Following a fortnight's wrangle over an open records request,
Temple police released a probable cause affidavit that reveals an
officer's reasons for arresting M/Sgt. C.J. Grisham for carrying an
loaded AR-15 on a rural road near this city's airport.

Officer
Steve Ermis was first to arrive when dispatchers sent he and two
other officers to check out two “suspicious male subjects” - “and
one of the subjects was armed.”

When
he pulled his squad car behind the two – Sgt. Grisham and his son,
a Boy Scout - “The male subject looked back and saw officer Ermis
but continued to walk West...”The father-son team was on a ten-mile hike that Saturday, March 16, around noon.

The
police officer “could see what appeared to be the barrel of a rifle
on one side of the male subject and what appeared to be the butt
stock of the rifle on the other side of the person. The weapon
apeared to be slung on the person's chest or around his neck.”

He
could see the weapon was loaded because the magazine was inserted and
it has small windows that allow one to see if there are cartridges in
place.

“The
male with the rifle had his hands in the area of the loaded rifle.”

At
that point, “Officer Ermis decided for officer safety and the
safety of the subject with the rifle and the other male to disarm the
subject.”

Officer
Ermis stepped forward to take control of the gun. That's when “the
subject began to become angry and irate and yelling that he had
broken no law and officer was not going to take his gun.” He
mentioned that he had a concealed carry handgun license.

By
then, the other two officers were on the scene, and “Officer Ermis
reached to control the loaded rifle the subject at this point started
physically trying to pull back from Officer Ermis attempting to keep
the subject from being able to get access to the rifle and also
grabbed the subject to maintain physical control of the subject.”

He
drew his sidearm and pointed it at Sgt. Grisham, according to the
affidavit. When the other two officers arrived, he put it back in the
holster.

“The
subject still had to be forcibly handcuffed.”

In
the laconic words of the affidavit, “It was learned at that point
that the subject had a pistol on his waist covered by his shirt.”
He took that weapon, as well.

Though
it was learned that Sgt. Grisham has a Texas Concealed Handgun
License, the officers kept the pistol and the rifle. They have not
yet returned the weapons.

The
County Attorney revised the original charge of resisting arrest to
one of interfering with an officer pursuing an investigation.

Temple
Police have maintained a death grip on offense and arrest reports. An
individual named Mr. Guess is particularly zealous about witholding
information, according to R.S. Gates, who has initiated all public
information act requests in the matter.

“You
ought to see him roll his eyes at me,” he said. “This is what any
police officer would call a case of pissing off police, or, that's
what you call 'contempt of cop,'” said Mr. Gates, who is himself a
veteran of police work.

A
request for 911 tapes and police logs has been appealed to the Open
Records Division of the Attorney General's Office.

Sgt.
Grisham has made public his intentions to pursue a civil suit in
redress to the a perceived violation of his civil rights.It's all on a video he had his son made of the arrest. Sgt. Grisham has been an active videographer of public policy issues at former duty stations, most recently at Huntsville, Alabama's Red Stone Arsenal.